Introduction to Symposium on Richard Albert's book "Constitutional Amendments: Making, Breaking, and Changing Constitutions"

Modern constitutions are built on a constitutive tension, insomuch as they aspire to establish “a fixed and immutable order,” and at the same time, they are influenced by the ongoing evolution of history, society and economics. The fundamental issue of a constitution over time is the relationship between keeping its identity and adapting to changes. Modern constitutions respond to this tension by adopting formal procedural rules for constitutional amendments. Formal revision meets the need to maintain a certain degree of flexibility of the constitutional text, so as multiple societal and political changes can be dealt with. However, constitutional amendments can be used to pursue illiberal, anti-democratic aims. This is precisely the starting point and one of the most significant contributions to the field of Prof. Richard Albert’s book.